Red-bellied black snake seeking warmth shocks angler at Mannum

A FISHERMAN bagged more than he bargained for when a red-bellied black snake decided to lounge on his car’s dashboard this morning. VIDEO: Snake eats snake

Black snake on a car dashboard at mannum South Australia. pic sent to Adelaide Snake catchers facebook. pic from facebook.

• VIDEO: Snake eats snake at Clarendon

A FISHERMAN bagged more than he bargained for when a red-bellied black snake decided to lounge on his car’s dashboard this morning.

The man called Snake Catchers Adelaide just before 7am, after noticing the 1.2m snake curled up under the warmth of the car’s front window.

Snake catcher Rolly Burrell said the snake was most likely seeking some early-morning sunshine.

“It was a bit of a cold night, so when the sun started coming through the windscreen he got up there to get warm,” Mr Burrell said.

“To him he probably didn’t realise it was a dashboard, he probably just thought it was a pile of rocks to get warm on.”

Mr Burrell said the fisherman was “quite traumatised” at first and concerned the reptilian intruder would make him late for work.

“The guy was down there fishing and listening to the radio, and he left his car door open and something must have attracted the snake in there,” he said.

“We just took the snake back along the River Murray at Mannum – we had a little chat to him along the way to not get into cars.”

Fellow snake catcher Ange Broadstock said the red-bellied black snakes were not as deadly as many of their Australian cousins and were shy animals.

“They’re really quite a shy and placid snake, they would rather move away from you than be around people,” she said.

“Lucky for him, this guy found the snake before he got into the car and he didn’t start driving to work.”

Ms Broadstock urged people in both urban and country areas to put a snake catcher’s number into their mobile phone.

“That way they can easily call a snake catcher and keep an eye on the snake until the catcher arrives,” she said.

Ms Broadstock said this summer had been a busy one for snake catchers, but “hasn’t been any busier than usual”.

While red-bellied black snakes can kill humans, such incidents are extremely rare.

The snakes grow to an average length of between 1.5m and 2m and are commonly found in swampy areas such as the River Murray and other waterways.